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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139030">words unsaid</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbreakage/pseuds/heartbreakage'>heartbreakage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo | Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brooding, F/M, Introspection, slight fe12 prelude, that blank space between marth and caeda's wedding and the first chapter in grust :)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:49:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,979</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbreakage/pseuds/heartbreakage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>there has never been a precedent for their separation before. marth thinks it as good a time as any to say the three words that have always gone unsaid.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marth/Sheeda | Caeda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>words unsaid</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>mini prelude to fe3/12 with marth and caeda.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For all his charisma and standing splendor, Altea’s hallowed Hero-King was a quiet lover.</p><p>There were many men who must assure their wives that they loved them in order to convey the feeling, yet this was not a need that arose for him. Caeda has watched him fledge from a fugitive princeling with nothing to the proud Altean ruler equipped with everything. In her eyes, the deepest depths of his mind possessed no skin to protect their secrets from view.</p><p>So transparent were his emotions towards the only woman he could ever love, it was almost as if there was no reason to give them a voice. Including outspoken words of romance that his actions and gestures could otherwise show just as well.</p><p>But even if these were his own noble feelings, they were not always so understandably uniform with his wife to-be's.</p><p>Or perhaps she only pretended that they were not.</p><p>“Marth, you never say that you love me.” Caeda said playfully, leaning her head in the crook of his neck as they sat at the rim of a fountain and watched the water glitter.  </p><p>“That’s not true, Caeda. I believe I have only said so to you just yesterday,” Marth tugged her closer affectionately by an arm around the shoulders. Giving an earnest laugh that thrummed his chest, felt between them for so little the space that divided their bodies. </p><p>Quick as lightning and just as silver came the riposte. “Not so fast, sir! I say the words to you, and you say them back. This dynamic belies an ocean of difference, I will have you know.”</p><p>Marth smiled at her wit, as he has only ever done. “What brought this on? If the flowers I sent you this morning did not suffice, I’ll arrange for a bigger bouquet sent to your room tomorrow.”</p><p>“That’s not what I meant!” Caeda laughs, giving him a light-hearted push. “Your gifts are always lovely, Marth, but I would occasionally like to hear you as well. You speak to your people so sweetly, after all.. It could make a woman feel like a stranger by comparison!”</p><p>“Is that so? Well..I could not have my princess feeling so lonely. Then shall I say those three words to you now?” He suddenly curls his fingers into claws and tickles her, causing Caeda's lips to quirk up in a lopsided, giddy expression before she staunched them entirely. </p><p>“<em>...Argh.</em> Forget it.” A sullen mood radiated from the woman in waves as she pulled slightly away from his touch. </p><p>Marth sobered, frowning with worry as he twisted around to observe her expression.  “I’m sorry, Caeda. I wasn’t aware that it bothered you so.”</p><p>“It doesn’t, Marth. I can bear with it, because I know once we’re married.. You’ll have no excuse. Then, you’ll say it to me everyday, right?” His charming fiancee grinned cheekily and dispelled the mood. The brunt of her bright, clever gaze laid blindingly upon the man she loved.</p><p>Marth winked. His own smile returned. “Always.”</p><hr/><p>Marriage. <em>Their</em> marriage.</p><p>The shared anticipation of it seeds a sweeter note into the early morning birdsong and everyday meals. Their happy eyes directed so blindly with love towards one another as they counted down the days.</p><p>Except the illusion shatters. Not entirely, but more than enough. </p><p>Somewhere within their minds, Hardin’s imperial edict comes with the crash of a glass ceiling. It was to be the dawn of a revolutionary union, a happy tear jerking occasion, and no one had been prepared for news that might make them feel any differently. The nuptials of the stunning Talysian princess and heroic Altean prince, pre-planned at least half a year prior, were now crushed beneath the heel of greater obligations within a single day.</p><p>Grust’s rebellion, a cause Marth must exact in his liege’s stead as any province must bow to an empire, is beyond his control. And so he lets it happen; the love and anticipation they have <em> all </em>stocked within a grand royal wedding turns to smoke and cinders, charred to nothing by the fires of a foreign insurrection. A call to arms that will steal Altea’s Hero-King away from his kingdom and his fiancee to the warfront for a few weeks at best or many months at worst.</p><p>No matter the time, any separation between king and kingdom was no doubt a source of anxiety for his people who had been brutally invaded the last time their king rode out to war. It is also certain agony for Marth and not merely in their stead either. Here was the arrival of another delay beyond his control, first Altea’s reconstruction and now Grust’s rebellion, yet another reason for which he must apologize to Caeda. Two, to be exact.</p><p>“Caeda, there is truly.. No words. I’m so sorry,” He says, rubbing his temples with exhaustion, with the edict crumpled glaringly across his desk.</p><p>“There’s nothing to apologize for, Marth. Hardin’s word is law. We can resume the wedding after we return from his orders in Grust.” Caeda smiles hopefully and hopelessly all at once after she has read their damnation for herself. Gliding two fingers across the wood around the scroll, pinching the dust between them. Unable to meet his eyes.</p><p>She continues before he can put in a word. “I’ve already waited two years, haven’t I? A little more sand to the hourglass is nothing if it means.. I can be your wife.”</p><p>Grim-faced and silent, Marth startles at the way his fiancee has not read yet between the lines. Now it is his turn to look away.“No, Caeda, you shouldn’t have to wait. Not any longer than you already have. But that isn’t all I mean.”</p><p>“..Marth?”</p><p>She must sense the yawn of foreboding in the air for Caeda's hand slowly clenches into a fist.</p><p>He swallows, steels himself, and then pushes out the words in a single breath: “It’s been decided, <em>you’ll stay here in Altea and I’ll go.</em>”</p><p>Caeda’s anger, her indignation, is expected and Marth grits his teeth like he were already a hundred years ahead of its prediction. “<em> What..? </em> That’s a load of..!! Did Hardin order that, too?!”</p><p>“No, this is my call alone. I’ll feel better knowing that I have you and Altea safe behind me. Besides, the people will need you more here than I do out there. Try to understand, Caeda.”</p><p>“Marth, how could I?! You’re being senseless! You need my lance and my eyes- Altea doesn’t have a single pegasus knight to hold sentry in the skies! And besides, if you’re going then all the more reason for me to go, too..!!”</p><p>And so, as if fated by the gods themselves, they argue on the principle of each other’s participation as they always have. Marth is even reminded of how he partly fell in love, how Caeda will fight tooth and nail with the highest man at the table and tear him down with just her clever words alone.</p><p>But with an immunity to her charms, Marth is used to her and he holds his own. Perhaps he is the only king in the history of their generation to do so.</p><p>To her credit, Caeda's anger comes in a form he even finds understandable, for he has never thought to keep her away from his side before. Away from the battlefield. But it’s different, because now there are options. He need not pull every ounce of reserve from their rank-and-file in desperation simply to match a large or powerful enemy. He doesn’t have to, and he shouldn’t.</p><p>It wasn't a terrible war waiting to be quelled at the risk of losing everything, but a single rebellion sparking at the fringes of the continent.</p><p>Nevertheless, her presence was necessitated in Altea. Where he knows the kingdom will be at its absolute safest when balanced across three pairs of hands. His sister Elice, though a public servant and royal cleric, was no warrior in the end, so ultimately Cain alone would reign over the iron keep of defense. A princess who has seen combat like Caeda will be the best of both their worlds, as morale for the common man and morale for the garrison.</p><p>He needs her here and this is something she knows even if she does not accept it happily.</p><p>Their fierce, heated words aside, he convinces her to see his way before the dawn arrives. The night preceding is exceptionally long and sleepless. As a betrothed man and woman, the distinction means that they are not formally married and thus have not yet gained the rights to share a single bed. This was useful on such an evening where their moods had not aligned, but Marth could have only wondered, then, if an exemption was within reason for that night alone.</p><p>There was no telling when he would return from the frontlines. </p><p>The thought, however, is only passing. He stills his mind and they sleep apart. Yet to clear the air between one another.</p><hr/><p>Soon enough, far<em> too</em> soon<em>,</em> the morning pools all its light into a sweltering afternoon.</p><p>With the sun beating down across his head, shining prisms from his diadem into the sand from atop his horse, Marth bids farewell to his kingdom and fiancee for a time. The blue-and-gold Altean banners hoist into the air and three columns of knights steel themselves for a march and then voyage to Grust. Old, grizzled faces wiped of expression, and fresher faces from the seventh platoon heavy with both eagerness and anticipation.</p><p>“I’ll pray for your safe return, little brother.” Elice gives his cheek a kiss then curtsies with a stately bow.</p><p>“I shall defend Altea with my life, sire.” The knight Cain proudly salutes.</p><p>“Goodbye, Marth.” Seeming on the verge of tears, Caeda gives him a loving but weak smile. </p><p>Marth heeds the three guardians of his kingdom with a smile, imparting a few well-wishes and words of parting, but for the third and last one there is something else he must offer.</p><p>One day in the near future they’ll be married in earnest. Husband and wife, man and woman, with all the rights to a madly happy future. But today they are partners in the face of a vulnerable kingdom, as statesman and stateswoman, and there is no one he counts on more.</p><p>He looks at Caeda very seriously, and for as powerfully as he wills it, the cool marble of a king fails to fall to rubble beneath his lover’s stare. He straightens his spine and squares his shoulders, every bit the dignified and strikingly cut messiah that once lifted Archanea from its shadows. “May Naga keep you strong. The whole of Altea depends on you. I do, too.” </p><p>Then, with a softer and more unconscious look that nearly splits his own composure in twain.  “<em>..I love you,</em> Caeda. I’ll be home before long, count the days.”</p><p>These three words for all their rarity strike a chord in the Talysian princess, widening her eyes until they could swallow the noonday sun itself in their seas. Her mouth wobbled and she nodded warmly, the tension of his impending departure released from her frame as if it had not existed there at all.</p><p>“I love you, too, Marth. I’ll do all I can here so you won't need to worry, so please.." Caeda clasped her hands together, as if praying to the gods, to the warrior king above.. And most of all, to the most important mortal man who stood before her. "Come back safely.”</p><p>He nodded, locking their gazes for a moment longer before turning his horse away. With the authoritative signal of a raised hand, he commenced the long march of his troops to the western border where they would sail to Grust.</p><hr/><p>No matter how fervently Caeda wished, hoped, and prayed, he does not return to her for months.</p>
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